Animals – Page 22 – Jennifer Sawicky Photography

August 26, 2019

2019-08-26: Monochrome Monday

It’s no secret that I love elephants, and that I love editing elephant images in black and white. Here are a few from my most recent travels. I hope they brighten up your Monday 🙂

DSCF2572 copy-Edit — This little elephant was precocious and kept all of us laughing and smiling as he played with sticks and branches, tossing them over his head.

DSCF3044 — A mama guiding her young calf across the road to join the rest of the herd.

DSCF3718 — Another adorable youngster; this one was very inquisitive and spent lots of time near the vehicle, seeing what we were all about.

XT3X3671 — A large bull elephant in musth. Our guide was very cautious as this guy approached us on the road, but the elephant turned off into the bushes, after giving his head a dramatic shake at us.

XT3X4281 — Drinks stop while Mom graves.

August 21, 2019August 20, 2019

2019-08-21: Wordless Wednesday

August 19, 2019August 18, 2019

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a relaxing weekend, and is ready for the week ahead. I found a lion image from a previous trip that had been edited but never shared, so I found a couple of others to put together this grouping.

I hope you enjoy, and wishing you a fantastic week!

20170515-DSC_6425 — This image was from 2017, when we had prolific lion sightings and had the pleasure of listening to their roars cutting through the night. On this past trip, I didn’t hear a single lion roar, but the lion dynamics can change significantly on properties over a few years.

XT3X2731 copy-Edit — This young male was seen in the late afternoon lounging next to a waterhole at Kings Camp in the Timbavati. Doesn’t he look majestic? You can find this image, along with lots of others, over in my gallery.

XT3X4033 copy-Edit — This lion and his brother were moving at speed through the property that Chitwa Chitwa has traversing rights to. We were fortunate to have an opportunity to view them before they crossed the boundary, and could no longer be followed by our vehicle.

August 12, 2019August 12, 2019

2019-08-12: World Elephant Day 2019

Instead of my weekly monochrome Monday post, I decided to share some of my favourite elephant images, in honour of World Elephant Day.

May these beautiful animals roam in peace 🙂

Elephants marching one by one.

A pair of elephants moving down a road.

Elephants galore in this multiple exposure image.

An adorable baby elephant trying to make itself look big and threatening.

My favourite baby elephant, testing to see if sand is good eating. 1/640sec, f9.0, ISO 2000

A herd of elephants in Amboseli.

Elephants are my favourite animal to spend time with on safari, so feel free to search my site for elephants to find other posts about these majestic giants, or take a look at the gallery.

August 7, 2019

2019-08-07: Wordless Wednesday

August 5, 2019

2019-08-05: Monochrome Monday

This week I decided to work on some cheetah images for monochrome Monday. I only had one cheetah sighting on my last trip, but as we had the opportunity to watch the female cheetah stationary under a tree, and in the beginning stages of a failed hunt, there were lots of opportunities for images. I’m still waiting for the magic moment of seeing a cheetah moving at something faster than a saunter; but that’s just another reason to go on safari again someday!

I hope you enjoy my selections for the week. Happy Monday, and wishing you a wonderful week ahead!

XT3X3065 — Cheetahs are such slender animals, that when they lay on their sides with their heads on the ground, you can barely see them. I think we might have driven past this female if she hadn’t lifted her head at an opportune moment.

XT3X3046 — A stretch and a yawn, then she moved about 5 feet before laying down again.

XT3X3101 — Disappearing into the tall grass at the start of a failed hunting expedition. The herd of impala spotted her as she moved through a clearing, ruining any element of surprise. Here though, you can start to see how these animals become invisible in their environment. If she had been slinking along through the grass in a more crouched position, she would have been invisible to any impala that glanced in her direction.

July 29, 2019July 28, 2019

2019-07-29: Monochrome Monday

I’ve had the amazing good fortune to see wild dogs on all of my trips to Southern Africa. I don’t think I could ever tire of spending time with these amazing animals; seeing the interaction between different members of the pack is always an interesting experience. On this past trip, I had two different sightings; one where the dogs were active and out in the open, and the other, where they were lazing away the morning deep in a thicket.

Here a few of my images from these two sightings.

Enjoy!

DSCF1232 — Alert and at the ready. Lion Sands River Lodge, May 2019.

DSCF1250 — Always a good idea to check on who, or what, might be sneaking up on you from behind.

DSCF1268 — Two of the pack members greeting each other; the behaviour of our pet dogs at the dog park is so similar.

DSCF1275 — Taking the path of least resistance; a pair of dogs set off down the road.

XT3X2631 — A pack of wild dogs resting deep in a thicket at mid morning. This group was seen in the Timbavati, whilst staying at Kings Camp.

July 28, 2019

2019-07-28: Babies in the bush – Elephants

I saved my favourite for last for my final instalment of July’s topic – Babies in the bush. I was actually so spoiled for choice with images of baby elephants that it was difficult to select which images to share. I’m not complaining, it is definitely a good problem to have!

On all of the properties we visited, the elephant sightings were prolific; so much so that a couple of our guides even commented about the volume of elephants sightings that we were having, and how lucky we were. There were moments that no matter which direction you looked, you were surrounded by elephants. And when we carried on down a road to see what else we could see, around every bend in the road, there were more. Being in the presence of these magnificent animals brings me such a feeling of peace and joy, so you’ll never hear me complain about seeing too many elephants while out on safari.

You can’t help but smile while watching baby elephants. They have so much personality, and are often very precocious and curious. You’ll often see them mock charging vehicles trying to be big and tough, playing with sticks and branches in the bush, tussling with their little friends, having a temper tantrum when something isn’t going their way, or playing shy, hiding between Mom and other larger, more confident elephants.

I hope you enjoy my selections for the week 🙂

DSCF0568 — A bit of follow the leader down on of the roads through the bush.

DSCF1470 — Pausing for a quick drink of milk in the middle of the road.

DSCF2508 copy-Edit — A herd of elephants digging in the dry riverbed for the water hidden underground. Look at the tiny baby tucked up against its Mom; still small enough to clear under her belly.

DSCF3708 — There were several occasions on this trip where I ended up in the midst of enormous elephants herds; it didn’t matter which direction you looked, there would be many elephants to watch and take pictures of. Here is one of those moments with elephants as far as the eye could see, with lots of youngsters in the mix.

DSCF3894 — A pair of youngsters playing while the rest of the herd grazed all around them.

XT3X4263 — It’s a special treat to see elephants that are tiny enough to still be taking cover under their Mom’s tummy.

July 21, 2019July 14, 2019

2019-07-21: Babies in the bush – Lion Cubs

Last week I focused on leopard cubs, and this week, it’s the lions. The lion sightings on this past trip started out very slowly, which was a stark contrast to previous trips to South Africa, but, you just never know what mother nature is going to show you. The first cub that was spotted was an older cub (a teenager) with her mom and aunt on a buffalo kill at King’s Camp in the Timbavati region. These weren’t the first lions that I saw, but the first lion that was still young enough to be referred to as a cub by our ranger, rather than a sub-adult.

On my last day at King’s Camp, we found a huge pride of lions, and I actually lost count of the cubs, there were so many of them around. They were spread out over a fairly large area, so I don’t even have a photo with the whole pride visible to try and recount, but it was around 12-14 individuals, including the two pride males that were spotted nearby.

Both for lions and the leopards, the cubs that I saw on this past trip were quite a bit older than some of the tiny babies I saw on previous trips, but no less wonderful to spend time with. And, the nice thing about the most of the lion sightings on this past trip is they were a bit active, rather than just snoozing away the day (or night).